Alfred Moses

I understand that the group that brought forward the reports and the study that was done in 2015 did receive funding from the Anti-Poverty Fund to conduct that research. It is up to the employers, though, if they want to put forth paying their employees on a living wage or the minimum wage. Some of the employers that do decide to pay a living wage do it for many reasons. One of them is possibly to keep employees for long periods of time rather than spending more money on training and recruitment, so it is up to the employers on what they want to do. They do have to pay a minimum wage, which is...

Yes, we can work with the Aurora College partners, ask them for what kind of orientation packages that they give to students for support that they need through post-secondary education. We will look at all three campuses to see what they provide and provide it to the Member should his constituents either want to go to Aurora College in Inuvik, Thebacha in Fort Smith, or the Yellowknife campus here in Yellowknife.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I just want to commend the Member from Sahtu, the honourable Member from Sahtu, for actually making that trip to Fort Smith and to the Thebacha campus to check on his constituents who are seeking post-secondary education. In all of our campuses across the NWT, we do have counsellors who are able to help students should they be going through some difficult times or having challenges going to post-secondary education. We also have focused on life skills. This is the first time that some of the students might be away from home and in a different community. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to go back to item 6 on Orders of the Day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We do understand that the high costs of living here in the Northwest Territories is very problematic, especially in some of our rural and remote communities. We did do a review of the minimum wage. I understand that the Member is referring to a report that talks about the living wage that was done in 2015. We are committed to reviewing the minimum wage. We also made an investment during this budget to work with industry and businesses to help work on our small community employment support program to help create jobs as well as to help subsidize wages for some of our residents that are looking...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am aware of the living wage movement. We were part of the oversight committee in the last government, when the report was brought forth to this House that resulted in looking at the minimum wage throughout the Northwest Territories. I am very glad to say that, in June of 2015, we increased the minimum wage from $10 to $12.50, and we also made a commitment that we will review that minimum wage every two years. So, Mr. Speaker, I understand where the Member is coming from. We do have the second-highest minimum wage in the country, only aside to Nunavut, but I do...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, that is what this foundational review is going to look at. It might even revamp into a whole new program within the social work area or even in the education area or based on our Skills 4 Success Action Plan, it can provide more program services within our three campuses as well as our learning centres.

The Member is saying that I am scolding these students, but I am trying to encourage them to graduate and become educated residents in the North so that they can become part of our public service and also teach and help our students in our smallest communities...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All programs will be part of this foundational review moving forward. We did put them in abeyance. We have heard from Members in this House about, instead of cancelling it, why do not we fix it? So this gives us an opportunity to look at those programs, get some recommendations, work with the college, work with senior management at the college, continue to hear from residents, to develop and implement and support these programs that we offer to our northern students and our northern residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, we are doing an overarching post-secondary education legislation. We are going through the processes right now. That means bringing an LP forward to standing committee and then having to go through the bill process, so I don't have a firm timeline for the Member right now, but I can get that information for him and share it with him, from the department.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The strategic plan was going to focus on the vision of the college, working on the Skills 4 Success Action Plan, looking at programs and services that will be provided for our NWT residents. The foundational review, as was discussed, was to take a look at the whole college system and look at some of the things that the honourable Member for Hay River had mentioned, such as administration, programs that we are providing, looking at them from the ground up.

Looking at everything within Aurora College will be done externally, so we want to build on some of the work that we...